'Lucky one' survived terror attack, now in Paralympics

Sitting volleyball team helped heal Britain's Martine Wright, who lost both legs in 2005 explosion

by Danica Kirka - Aug. 31, 2012 11:35 PMAssociated Press

LONDON - All eyes were on No. 7 when Britain played Ukraine on Friday in its first match of the Paralympic Games sitting volleyball tournament.

That's the number for Martine Wright, a former marketing manager who was traveling on London's subway July 7, 2005, when four suicide bombers inspired by Osama bin Laden detonated explosives and killed 52 commuters. She lost both legs in the explosion.

"I will always say I was one of the lucky ones that day," she told The Associated Press earlier this year. "I survived. I don't know how I survived. I've been living my life ever since."

She had stayed out late the night before, celebrating the decision to award the Summer Olympics to London. Having overslept, she didn't reach the car she normally rode. Instead, she just jumped on the train as the doors closed.

She later told an inquest into the terror attacks that she recalled a flash of light and a sensation of being thrown from side to side. She looked up and saw one of the sneakers she had just bought. It was bloody, blown off her foot and skewered on a piece of metal. An off-duty policewoman found her, wrapped her leg in a tourniquet, held her hand, moistened her lips with water.

Wright will tell you that she had help to get through the seven years since 7/7. It's about Martine's team -- what she refers to as "Team Me" -- her support group of family and friends. It started in the hospital, with her mother, holding her daughter's face in her hands, telling her she could have died or suffered brain damage. But that didn't happen.

Wright saw the effect of the bombs on so many others. Families grieved. The city reeled in shock. She ultimately had to decide: What would it be, Martine?

Wright isn't thinking about disability at the gym, where she found camaraderie. Her teammates, too, have their stories -- like Samantha Bowen, a veteran who was injured while serving in Iraq.

"It's such a negative thing that happened in my life," Wright said. "But I've gained something so positive. It's a miracle in itself."